HOLMBERG: Should there be a specific Virginia law against ‘celebratory gunfire’?

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RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Virginia State Senator Henry L. Marsh III (D-16th District) plans to pre-file “Brendon’s Law” in November making it a specific crime in Virginia to fire a gun into the air. He’s still working on the details of the proposed law, named after 7-year-old Brendon Mackey, struck and fatally injured by a .40 caliber bullet that fell from the sky while he walked with his father to a Midlothian July Fourth celebration.

There are already at least three state laws that can apply to celebratory gunfire, but Marsh says there needs to be one law that clearly states that specific practice is illegal. Click here to review some of the state laws.

Marsh lives on the edge of Church Hill, which in years past has been known for celebratory gunfire, also known as “Church Hill fireworks.”

There aren’t any solid national or state numbers when you talk about fatalities from aerial shooting, as it’s called. And while Brendon’s is the first known death in metro Richmond from celebratory gunfire, there have been plenty of broken house and car windows as well as holes poked in roofs that cause small, mysterious leaks.